Stocks Back Away From New Dow Record

NEW YORK -- The countdown to a new record for the iconic Dow Jones industrial average has begun, but don't hold your breath.

At the start of trading Thursday, the world's best-known stock index was just 89 points shy of its Oct. 9, 2007, all-time record close of 14,164.53. It crept within 20 points in mid-afternoon Thursday before sliding back.

A shiny new record for the Dow would be a big deal. It shows just how resilient the stock market is, as it is close to erasing the 54% loss it suffered in the 2007-09 bear market, worst decline since the Great Depression, says Chuck Carlson, contributing editor of Dow Theory Forecasts newsletter.

"The Dow is still the people's index," says Carlson. "When you get that close to an all-time high in the Dow, that's fairly heady news. So people are watching closely."

If the Dow eclipses its old high, it will serve as a psychological boost to investors burned by the market collapse caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think you have a lot of people that still are anchored on 2008. Now, you have a market that has been crushed but has recouped those losses ... From a milestone and awareness perspective, that's important for the guy on Main Street," Carlson says.

But a day after the market's biggest gains since the first trading session of 2013, stocks were not showing a lot of verve.

Major U.S. stock indexes were up and down in a narrow range Thursday, despite a slight lift from an upbeat report from the Chicago Institute for Supply Management. The group said its business index rose another 1.2 points in February to 56.8, its highest level since last March.

One hour before the opening bell, the government said the economy grew at just a 0.1% annual rate in the fourth quarter. An earlier report estimated the economy shrank at a 0.1% rate in the final three months of 2012.

Although investors might be pleased that the revised GDP figure is higher now that the government has more data for the last quarter, the revision came in well below the 0.5% consensus estimate of economists.

On Wednesday, the Dow shot up 175 points to 14,075.37, after a 116-point surge Tuesday. The S&P 500 gained 19.05 points, or 1.3%, to 1,515.99. The Nasdaq composite index rose 32.61 points, or 1.3%, to 3,162.26.

Tokyo's benchmark led gains in regional stocks after the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated Haruhiko Kuroda, currently president of the Asian Development Bank, to head Japan's central bank. The Nikkei 225 stock average was up 2.7% to 11,559.36.

Markets across Europe were on the rise, with the Stoxx Europe 600 benchmark index up around 0.5%.

In currency markets, the euro was almost flat at $1.3141. The dollar was steady at 92.262 yen.

Benchmark crude oil for April delivery was flat at $92.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.